MLR Press / October 2009
Reviewed by: Vince A. Liaguno

If there was ever a time to remember that old adage about not judging a book by its cover, it would be when passing by a stack of Rick R. Reed’s latest, Mute Witness, in the bookstore. Let this reviewer go on record: Reed deserves a better budget for his book covers than the amateurish schlock that his publisher slapped together for this otherwise competent, smart suspense thriller. Everything here – from the colors and font to the little boy with the single tear coursing down his cheek to the blurry images of two men watching him from a nearby riverbank (one appears to be shirtless, which is disturbing and downright creepy considering the subject matter) – smacks of slapdash work at the hands of someone just learning desktop publishing.

First impressions aside, Mute Witness is a solid addition to Reed’s quickly growing catalog of competent thrillers featuring LGBT characters and themes.

Sean Dawes is about to live every parent’s worst nightmare – the abduction of his eight-year-old son. Fear quickly turns to relief when little Jason is found alive, but that relief is short-lived when it’s discovered that the boy has been sexually abused and rendered mute from the trauma. When the boy’s mother – and Sean’s ex-wife – is sidelined in a car accident, the boy’s grandparents prey upon small town homophobia and soon all eyes are cast upon Sean and his live-in boyfriend, Austin, as the likely culprits. But the real pedophile is closer at hand than anyone would suspect, and Sean soon finds himself separated again from his son and at odds with local law enforcement, the family court system, his Bible-thumping in-laws, the boy’s stepfather, and even Austin.

Reed has developed a knack for these tidy suspense thrillers in relative short order. For his many fans, this is a good thing because there’s nary any downtime between reading fixes; for the more seasoned suspense reader, however, Reed is approaching formulaic with each successive outing. One can’t help think in reading Mute Witness that Reed may be sacrificing some ingenuity for a quick turnout. For example, the pedophile’s identity is revealed much too early in the book. There existed here a superb potential for mystery among the suspense that Reed tosses out with the premature disclosure to the reader of the boy’s attacker. Especially considering the weighty theme of homosexuality and child-rearing (and the myriad misconceptions that come along with it), Reed missed an opportunity to really explore the subject matter. Instead, the self-righteous, bigoted grandmother is reduced to mere caricature and used as a plot device. In the end, it comes off as a cheap use of an expensive fragrance – Imperial Majesty on a 42nd Street hooker.

Criticism and missed opportunities aside, Mute Witness is an undeniable page-turner. Reed knows how to layer this type of novel and just when to jack up the tension. He employs a large enough ensemble of characters to keep the action from being bogged down in over-exposure of a single character. It’s mean and lean throughout, with no wasted scenes or dialogue to detract from his excellent pacing.

For readers who enjoy a certain comfort level from their authors, Reed is their go-to guy. Mute Witness is the work of a seasoned thriller maestro, with just enough edge to make this novel about the strength of a father’s love and the horror of child sexual abuse stand out in the crowded thriller showroom.

Purchase Mute Witness by Rick R. Reed.

PS Publishing / December 2009
Reviewed by: Martel Sardina

PS Publishing has done it again, folks. Peter Crowther has a keen eye (or perhaps some sort of talisman?) for picking winners.

Like Stephen King’s “The Body”, Rick Hautala’s Reunion is a coming-of-age story. All Jackie wants to do is enjoy the last few weeks of summer before junior high starts. There’s no better way to do that than camping out in the backyard with his best friend, Chris. But Chris has other ideas about how the pair should spend their time. He’s heard that a high school reunion is being held at a local country club. If the pair snuck out of Jackie’s backyard, there’s a good chance that they could sneak into the reunion. And if luck was on their side, perhaps they wouldn’t be leaving empty-handed. Chris thinks they could walk away with a stockpile of stolen snacks and beer.

Jackie doesn’t want to go along with Chris’s plan. When Jackie worries that they’ll surely be caught, Chris goads Jackie until he finally gives in.

A thick fog descends on the area. It gives the boys some cover from passing cars, but also makes their walk to the country club dangerous.

Meanwhile, John prepares to attend his 40th high school reunion. Murphy’s Law is at work where this trip is concerned. After a series of mishaps, John and his wife, Maggie, are finally driving from their hotel to the country club to attend the reunion dinner. When the tire on their rental car blows out, Maggie wonders why the universe seems intent on keeping them from making it to their destination. After all the hassles, Maggie believes they should just skip the reunion. But John promised someone 40 years ago that he would be there. Breaking that promise could be a matter of life and death.

Not long after, John and Jackie’s paths cross. John tries to warn Jackie about some impending danger. He spouts off some crazy statements about the fog, and seems to know more about Jackie than he should. What could this unlikely pair possibly have in common? Chris convinces Jackie that John is either drunk or some kind of a pervert. The boys leave, hoping to put some distance between themselves and this crazy old man.

From here, Hautala’s tale takes an unexpected turn. When Jackie realizes that he should have heeded John’s warning, it’s already too late. The wheels Hautala sets into motion cannot be stopped. All Jackie can do now is deal with the consequences of the choices he’s made.

Reunion is a heartbreaking look at the loss of innocence. Time is a fleeting resource. Hautala’s tale is a poignant reminder not to waste a minute of the one life we’ve been given.

Purchase Reunion by Rick Hautala.

CreateSpace / October 2009
Reviewed by: Michele Lee

Under by Bradd Quinn starts horrifically with this little disclaimer:

"Oh, and this book is self-published, so there will be typos. Oh yes, there will be typos. Think of them as easter eggs. Happy Hunting!"

Uh-oh. Not an auspicious way to start a novel, but one must give Quinn points for being truthful.

From here Under launches into a series of sound bites, going back in time, that give readers a hint of a mass murder, using every trigger word available to assure readers the story they're about to read is no doubt both "grisly" and "gruesome".

Then comes the meat of the story, wherein hero of the tale Jacob Drake, husband and father (also the kind of man who blames his own ill temper on a female coworker for not "showing some damn cleavage" and kicks the family dog — in short this "hero" is racist, sexist, and an unapologetic jerk) begins to notice evidence of something nesting under his deck. Jacob's discovery of dead wildlife and foul smells are interspersed with flashbacks, characters bickering, and a collection of disparaging remarks about Jews, gays, and women.

After the foreshadowing and characters are well established, the action begins with Jacob and his buddy encountering one of the things nesting under his deck, and under homes all through the area. Things that it seems are also responsible for the grisly murders in the nearby town of Gaston. Unfortunately, no one believes Jacob, so he's charged with the task of saving the town on his own.

From there Under actually has its moments, familiar ones that nevertheless tug at the strings of readers looking for anticipation, danger, and a healthy dose of gore. An unmistakable cannibal monster story as the plot amps up and winds down, Quinn presents a series of useless cops, women who are too stupid to live (and thus are killed off one after another), and a pair of middle management office workers playing Rambo, bumbling in their efforts to save, primarily, Jacob's five-year-old daughter from the man-eating critters.

Every time the story gets going it seems it's ruined by a snide comment about a woman or minority, or a cop of some kind completely failing, due to ignorance or jerkiness usually, to do their job, leaving Jacob to be the hero.

As for the editing, it's really bad. Many grammar and punctuation problems decorate most pages, even before formatting problems such as lines running together, different font sizes for subsequent sentences and words printed on top of one another. Metaphors are often heavy, cliché, and just plain confusing. Not to forget the very convoluted formation of the story itself, with the timeline running forward and backward in alternating sections at the same time.

Under does have its moments, again, especially for diehard horror fans. But it read likes a rough draft, badly in need of inspiration and editing (and a good hard reminder that women are horror fans, too!). The good news is that there appears to be a revised edition available; however the original is still for sale as well. With its foreboding foreword, it makes one wonder how seriously this tale is offered as a quality addition to the horror genre if minorities, gays, and women – and, yes, even the reader – are considered not worth basic consideration.

Purchase Under by Bradd Quinn.

Cemetery Dance Publications / April 2010
Reviewed by: Blu Gilliand

There’s an old piece of advice that’s often dispensed to writers at the beginning of their career: “Write what you know.” If, in writing the stories that make up Last Exit for the Lost, his massive new collection from Cemetery Dance, Tim Lebbon is writing what he knows, then his has been a rocky path indeed.

The characters in these stories are haunted, but not by the horror standbys like shapes under sheets or things going bump in the night. Instead, they are haunted by the depths of human despair, grief and loss. And while I’m sure Lebbon has endured his share of sorrow (who among us hasn’t?), his ability to bleed out pain on the page is due in no small part to his bottomless talent.

There’s not a weak link to be found in this collection, something very hard to pull off when you’re talking 19 stories (including two that have never seen print) spread over 500-plus pages. Each story manages to be both unique and uniquely Lebbon at the same time. The man is a prolific writer, and you really get a feel of his voice as it strengthens and solidifies with every turn of the page.

Among the standouts of Last Exit:

“Kissing at Shadows” is a post-apocalyptic tale following one man on his annual journey to honor the memory of his wife. We’re not the only one accompanying him, however – either memory, or something more substantial, is tagging along. Lebbon fills this tale with a disquieting dread that increases with every step of the man’s lonely trek.

“Black” contains one of the most disturbing descriptions of murder that I’ve ever read – not because of anything graphic, but because it cuts to the heart of what murder truly is. In Lebbon’s hands, murder is not a tool for the gross-out, but something far more chilling and real.

In “The Horror of Many Faces,” Lebbon takes on the legendary character of Sherlock Holmes. This melancholy bit of mystery begins with that most famous of sidekicks, Watson, witnessing his friend and mentor Holmes commit a gruesome murder. Soon, all of London is gripped by panic as a wave of murder washes over it, with every witness swearing that they saw a friend or loved on doing the killing. One of my favorites in the book, aided in no small part by the downbeat, ambiguous ending.

“In Perpetuity” brings us one of Lebbon’s creepiest creations, The Green Man, in a story about a father on a desperate quest to save his son.

I could write a little bit about every story here, but you get the idea. Last Exit for the Lost is bursting with great discoveries, and you should make some of them on your own, going in (as I did) with little knowledge of what the pages hold. Suffice to say this is a very strong collection by a very talented writer, and one whom I’m glad to say has a lot of books and stories lined up on the horizon. Jump in and enjoy.

Purchase Last Exit for the Lost by Tim Lebbon.

Leisure Books / January 2010
Reviewed by: Joan Turner

Horror master Ray Garton follows up the traditional terrors of his two great werewolf novels – Ravenous and Bestial – with Scissors, a novel that plunges readers into a world of supernatural and psychological horror. Stuart Mullond is a tormented man — scarred not only by his rigid and abusive childhood but from the memory of a painful and traumatic medical procedure his mother forced him to endure at eight. He awakens one night to find that Dr. Furgeson, the physician who performed the operation, has stepped out of his nightmares – scissors in hand – and is stalking Stuart’s family with the intention of doing to his son what he did to him.

He begins seeing Dr. Furgeson everywhere:

 “The oblong head stood well above the others, a few inches higher than Stuart’s. Bald and pale and veiny. A stethoscope hung around the skinny neck and drew attention to the large, pointy Adam’s apple in the throat. Small round glasses framed the deep-set eyes, which looked directly at Stuart.

There was a break in the crowd between them, and Stuart saw that Dr. Furgeson wore a long white coat. Right hand in the pocket, elbow slightly bent. The doctor removed the hand, held it up beside his grinning face. The silver scissors flashed with the dull reflection of a spinning red light atop a nearby video game.

Stuart could no longer breathe. His mouth hung loosely open.

Dr. Furgeson slowly tipped his head and turned it to the right, as if to reveal his ear to Stuart. It was an exaggerated movement, the gesture of a clown silently telling a child to listen.

Snick-snick-snick. Snick-snick-snick.”  

Depressed and anxious at work as he awaits the proverbial axe due to the failure of his recent project – Stuart’s Owl-Man character that Carnival Greetings has used on a line of children’s back-to-school supplies – Stuart can no longer focus on his job.

Stuart’s lifelong dream has been to draw and paint. He created Owl-man, a superhero, in his teens. His goal had been to work in comic books and his original creation was nothing like the little cartoon character Carnival had all but stolen from him. His mother, a staunch Seventh Day Adventist, believed anything violent, sexual or supernatural was evil and the church forbade comic books. Not only had Stuart’s ambition meet with stern disapproval, his mother had called in the pastor to force him to destroy his drawings. Now Stuart is again in trouble for his beloved character.

Added to Stuart’s other worries, his thirteen-year-old son, James, is skipping school to hang out with three rough boys from a bad neighborhood, and Stuart’s ex-wife, Molly, is too busy with her lovers to give the boy the supervision he needs. Stuart’s girlfriend, Amelia, has become best friends with Molly, which leaves Stuart feeling betrayed by everyone and solely responsible for his son’s welfare. He tries to reach out to his son, longing to help him, but the bleak experience of his own childhood leaves him no guideposts:

“It occurred to Stuart how easy it was to bury real problems under shovelfuls of nonsense, trivia, and small talk. What bothered him most was that he did not know what problems they were burying. To the best of his knowledge, he had done nothing to anger or hurt his son, and yet he felt a nagging guilt, as if he had. Maybe it was just James’s age. He was leaving his childhood and entering unfamiliar territory, uncertain of what was expected of him. When Stuart thought back to the beginning of his teenage years, he could unearth no pleasant memories. Maybe the best he could do was to continue to let James know he was there for him and let the boy handle things his own way. But still, there was the gnawing sense that something was not right, that somewhere along the way his son had taken a wrong turn.”

Soon Stuart learns just how far that wrong turn has taken James.

His son’s vulnerabilities fuse together in Stuart’s mind with the menacing reappearance of the doctor who caused him so much pain, and his emotional stability spirals downward. Stuart begins painting again; locking his art away from prying eyes as he once did in his youth and working on a secret project he hopes will save his son and prove to be his own retribution.

Scissors is a powerful novel on many levels. Not only is it a top-notch work of fiction with all the action, suspense, violence, and great characterization Garton is famous for producing, it is also an insightful look at the psychological ramifications of childhood abuse, trauma, and betrayal — and their effects upon the subconscious mind. 

Forget the clichés. This is a true original; a story that that will connect with readers in many ways, a fast action read filled with twists and turns that will keep readers turning pages until the incredible conclusion. Undoubtedly one of Ray Garton’s best, Scissors will take your breath away.

Purchase Scissors by Ray Garton.

Damnation Books / December 2009
Reviewed by: Michele Lee

Yasmin Stoker is a tour guide in one of the most haunted fictional cities ever. She's also a wraith, an undead creature who feeds off the life of revenants — that is mindless, murderous newly-risen vampires. Nicomedes, a blind, mad Lich Lord and undead ruler of the city, orders Yasmin to derail a PI’s investigation into a series of murders of young girls. Yasmin has no choice but to obey, but the strange appearance of one of victims, prowling the streets on hunts of her own, takes Yasmin on an adventure to find the killer, which might just unbalance the current power system and let loose a horde of demons on the city.

Afterlife is a dark urban fantasy/horror novel that's perfect for readers who love ghost stories. The story spins around the concepts of the living and the dead and the damned, like an adult, demented version of Casper. Yasmin is not a hardcore, kick-butt heroine, as can be found in more popular titles. However, her world is populated with a plethora of interesting characters, from necromancers who have traded their souls for immortality to her half-succubus best friend, Emma (whose demonic parentage brings quite a few plot complications into the mix).

While not a traditional horror tale, Afterlife starts after the death of most of the main characters and features a dark outlook on reality juxtaposed with heroes who need the pain and death of others to sustain themselves. Clark offers a new kind of horror, perhaps, re-envisioning dread, vampires, and ghosts as the mundane realities of a world whose very existence is built on pain and tragedy, and yet is quite similar to our own.

Purchase Afterlife by Naomi Clark. 

Graveside Books / February 2010
Reviewed by: Michele Lee

With Skull Full of Kisses Michael West throws his tales into the long list of single-author collections available to horror readers today. With ten tales of love and monsters, Skull Full of Kisses gives readers more meat than many other lengthier collections out there.

West's style is easy to read, but well-paced and well-formed, delivering solid stories page after page. While there are a few standouts, there aren't any truly disappointing tales included between the covers. The best of the best include: opener "Jiki", a tale of a Yakuza initiate disposing of his first assigned kill via his boss' pet demon; "Einstein's Slingshot" a Twilight Zone-inspired tale of monumental scientific mess-ups and dinosaurs; and the almost-sweet "Good Night", the poignant closing tale of a man trying to console his grandson after the boy's mother dies in a car accident.

Longtime horror readers will come to expect a dark turn of events that may make some of the tales come off familiar, but no less well-written. West displays a strong knowledge of the genre and its readers and also a level of skill that reflects reliability in forming tales, fleshing out characters and setting a tone that brings good tales to life. Midline horror for those looking for something good, and entertaining, but not too experimental as to lose audience interest, West's collection delivers a spectacular assortment of cultures, themes, and settings sure to keep readers engaged and up at night.

Purchase Skull Full of Kisses by Michael West.